Kyle McCord came into Syracuse with one season to play.
He used that one year of eligibility to choose a new home, a new challenge.
How did he respond?
By setting new records for Syracuse Orange football for passing yards in a single season (4,779) and passing touchdowns in one season (34), surpassing the previous leader, Orange alum Ryan Nassib.
He also became the first Syracuse quarterback to throw for at least 300 yards in four consecutive games, achieving this in his first four games in Orange. McCord has now set the Syracuse record at seven-straight games with at least 300 yards passing. He passed for 30@ or more yards in 12 of his 13 games in Orange.
In the 2024 DIRECTV Holiday Bowl, McCord’s first pass of the second half went for 50 yards to wide receiver Darrell Gill, Jr., and put him at 4,594 yards for the 2024-25 season, officially moving him to first all-time for passing yards in a single season for a quarterback in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
His line season at Syracuse ended with double-digit wins, at 10-3.
Now with his next move in front of him and a request to the NCAA to have a fifth year of eligibility after playing in four games in his first collegiate season (2021-22) and a fifth game where he only came in to close out a win, we wait to see what will happen. If the NCAA were to look at that fifth game and provide an exception to the rule of redshirts being able to be applied when a football student-athlete plays four games or less to McCord for his fifth game being minimal, then McCord would have the choice of staying at Syracuse.
But we also have an NFL Draft coming up that has no clear top-quarterback choice and what seems to be a shallow pool overall for signal-callers coming out of college.
On one hand, McCord can build his resume for the NFL by coming back for another year with the Orange after leading the nation in passing yards this season.
Syracuse won 10 games in McCord’s only season in Orange and finished in the top 25 in the AP, Coaches, and College Football Playoff polls.
They ended the 2024-25 campaign with McCord at the helm as the fourth-best team of 17 ACC schools.
On the other hand, McCord should get drafted this season and definitely get work with an NFL team in a slim season of quarterbacks for franchises to pick from.
Two roads splitting McCord off in different directions.
Which will he choose?
Well, the NCAA still has to open up the road to return, if they so choose.
The wait continues.
But at least we know the request is in and the thought is real that McCord could have more time in orange and blue if the NCAA grants the waiver and McCord chooses this path over the draft.
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